Someone once asked me about the
type of music I listen to. I shrugged my shoulders and responded, “Eh, mainly
Christian music.” In that moment, I received the typical judgmental look: a
swift perusal of the eyes up and down my figure followed by a nod. It was a
look filled with the indication that I had granted them no surprise and they
were almost disappointed with my answer.
Its
not that I don’t like any other music. It’s that I like to listen to music that
stirs up emotions within my being for the edification of it. I like to listen
to music with truths that I affirm, rather than just give me a beat to dance
to. I’m sorry if that is not on the iTunes Top Ten.
But
that is my defense on why I usually don’t listen to mainstream pop culture
music. Other Christians might think otherwise. On one side you get the
Christians who say, as long as it doesn’t corrupt your being its fine to listen
to. On the other side you get Christians who repent after listening to such a
thing. These different approaches are all contradictory to a culture with
gaping wide eyes fixed on us. It is always a debate for us on what is the most
appropriate way to engage culture.
I’ve
traced why there is this disparity within Christian thinking. This debate all
comes down to the question of: what effect on reality does our belief in Christ
take?
Too
many Christians live in some past reality with their belief in Christ. Let me
explain: I have noticed four realities present within Scripture and how these
realities are reflected in our ways of thinking as Christians. There is the
Reality of Perfection, the Reality of Compromise, the Reality of Divinity, and
the Reality of Actualization, and with each reality is a flaw in thinking
attached to it.
1. Reality
of Perfection- The Flaw of a Perfect/Lamentless Faith
Perfection was present at the beginning of Genesis.
God was walking among the garden with man and everything was dandy. Yet in
today’s culture, there are Christians who walk around as if God is right beside
them in the garden. It is the flaw that everything should be perfect now
because we have hope in Christ. There is a right way to engage culture, but it
does not exist within this reality.
2. Reality
of Compromise- The Flaw of a Merit-Based Faith
As soon as the Fall of Man happened, we kept trying to
compromise or reason with God. God and man finally had to reach a compromise in
which God could only dwell with us through the following of laws. Life becomes
governed by laws, and sadly, that is how some Christians live. It is the flaw
where we reason with God for our sin, hoping He might reward us, because in
this reality, love is conditional. There is a right way to engage culture, but
it does not exist within this reality.
3. Reality
of Divinity- The Flaw of No Belief
Everything changed once Jesus stepped in the picture.
Reality was no longer a compromise, but rather justice lived out. Jesus came
and He preached His divinity, yet there were people who followed Him as merely
a teacher. If Jesus was just a teacher, there is no reason to believe in Him,
which brings us to today. There are people who say they believe in Jesus and
His divinity, yet their actions and words only affirm Him to be a good teacher
in their lives. It is the flaw where saying you believe in Jesus is enough,
but what does that mean of our belief in Him? There is a right way to engage
culture, but it does not exist within this reality.
4. Reality
of Actualization- The Flaw of No Fruits of Faith
After Jesus left, His disciples were here on earth
forming the church. This is where the truth that He spoke became an actualized
reality. This is the reality that we are to live in today as Christians,
because it takes truth and applies it. Yet there is a flaw in this reality
also, and that is the belief that faith doesn't need to manifest itself in any
form. It is the flaw that fruit doesn’t need to be present. We are to engage
culture in this reality, but the only way we can is to organically produce
fruits of our faith for the world to see.
I
am proposing that the most appropriate way to engage culture, comes in the form
of analyzing our roots, see in which reality our thinking lies, and then shift
our thinking in a way that applies it to the reality of today. As a Christian,
don’t live in the past with your thinking. The truth of the past is the same as
the present. It’s just a matter of making it a reality.
Stay
tuned for blogs diving into each reality, discussing what I believe is a right
way to overcome thinking in the past.
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